Sport

Country must come calling

WHAT have England got to lose by giving a chance to Worcestershire captain Daryl Mitchell?

The national side has failed to win any of their last 10 Tests and are a side in desperate need of inspiration.

Why can’t Mitchell be the man to provide that?

Here, we have a player seemingly at the peak of his powers. He has just scored 1,000 runs in a season for the third time in seven campaigns and is the leading run scorer in English first-class cricket.

The 30-year-old also plays for the only unbeaten county in the country when it comes to the four-day game and this week carried his bat for 167 not out as Worcestershire demolished Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

With a sizeable chunk of the season gone, he may well lead Worcestershire to their third promotion in seven seasons.

Yet, Mitchell (pictured) barely gets a mention in dispatches.

Worcestershire might not be the most fashionable county around but they know a thing or two about producing England batsmen.

Moeen Ali has also broken into the international ranks in the past 12 months, and the Test side this summer, so it’s not as if New Road is being totally overlooked.

If Moeen has been deemed good enough, albeit because he can offer the spin option, why not Mitchell, who himself is no slouch with the ball following his 5-28 against Northamptonshire in the NatWest T20 Blast last Friday?

Although his statistics make for better reading in Division Two – Worcestershire won promotion on each of the last occasions he passed the 1,000-run milestone – he has not been out of place in Division One.

The fact Mitchell plies his trade in the second tier should not be an insurmountable barrier, after all Alastair Cook was handed the England Test captaincy while on the books at Essex.

Comments (1)

Personally it would be great for him - having presided over a Worcestershire side that seems to be in spectacular form at the moment. Is it wrong to feel a little selfish though - we've had Moeen go to England, could we really afford another to go? If the selectors have any sense they will have their eyes on New Road right now - which is both great and worrying at the same time! That all said - at least it means that you don't have to leave Worcestershire for the Home Counties to get a place in the international squad!

Personally it would be great for him - having presided over a Worcestershire side that seems to be in spectacular form at the moment. Is it wrong to feel a little selfish though - we've had Moeen go to England, could we really afford another to go? If the selectors have any sense they will have their eyes on New Road right now - which is both great and worrying at the same time! That all said - at least it means that you don't have to leave Worcestershire for the Home Counties to get a place in the international squad!apching